The
The government also asked one of the territory’s top
scientists to investigate the deaths of three children. According to the World
Health Organization, only two of the children tested positive for the flu, and
both had other diseases as well.
The government’s decision to close the schools brought back
memories of 2003, when an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory hit
The flu outbreak was not associated with the bird flu. According
to Health Secretary York Chow, the schools were closed because the number of
young children being infected seemed higher this year.
“Our main concern is the infection of young children. The
percentage of young children getting influenza this season seems to be higher.
The second is the mortality…if there’re two deaths related to flu even before
the peak, then we need to do something to minimize the numbers in the weeks to
come,”
Health experts say there was no reason for people to panic. “This
year, there seem to be slightly more flu cases. But from what I can see, we get
a bad flu year every few years. I don’t think it is very unusual or different
from previous years,” Leo Poon, a virologist from the
Public hospitals have been experiencing a prolonged increase
in emergency demand lately, in particular the emergency medical admissions, HA
Chief Executive Shane Solomon told the media during a visit to the North
District Hospital Wednesday afternoon.
“Compared with February last year, the daily number of emergency medical admissions is 16 percent higher. At the same time, recent admission to pediatric wards in public hospitals has also surged,” he said.
Photo Credit: AP